A New Assessment Option Is Coming in 2019

Tuesday, January 23, 2018 - 06:00

Beginning in 2019, thanks to the work of more than 10,000 board-certified pediatrician volunteers, the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) will offer a new way to fulfill the MOC Part 3 (exam) requirement: the Maintenance of Certification Assessment for Pediatrics, or MOCA-Peds.

MOCA-Peds is an online, non-proctored assessment platform. With the help of those pediatrician volunteers, MOCA-Peds was launched as a pilot in January 2017. The pilot will continue as the platform is refined in 2018 before it goes live in 2019.

Primary Features of MOCA-Peds

This online platform will provide a number of new features to enhance the MOC Part 3 process including:

Flexibility

Up to 20 timed, multiple-choice questions are delivered quarterly. Answer them wherever you like using a computer, tablet or smartphone before the end of a quarter. Answer them one at a time or all at once. Also, your four lowest-scored quarters will be dropped in each 5-year MOC cycle and won't count against you.

Resources

While you can't talk about questions or answers with anyone at any time, you can use resources (internet, books, etc.) to help you answer questions should you need to.

Choice

If you prefer to sit for the proctored exam at a secure testing center, or if you aren't passing MOCA-Peds by the end of Year 4 of your 5-year MOC cycle, you can choose to sit for the proctored exam instead. MOCA-Peds will be included in the cost of your MOC enrollment; there will be an additional seat fee to take the proctored exam.

Feedback

Once you submit your answer, you’re told whether you got it right or wrong, the rationale behind the correct answer and references to support it. You’ll also have access to previously-answered questions.

What Does This Mean for You?

If you continue to pass MOCA-Peds, you will never have to take a proctored exam at a secure testing facility again to maintain your certification.

Not everyone will start MOCA-Peds in 2019. MOCA-Peds will be available in 2019 for pediatricians in General Pediatrics, Child Abuse Pediatrics, Pediatric Gastroenterology, and Pediatric Infectious Diseases whose MOC cycle begins in 2019 and whose assessment due date is during that cycle. After that, the ABP plans to make MOCA-Peds available to a few subspecialties each year. For now though, exam due dates for all subspecialties will be postponed until MOCA-Peds is available to them.

Log into your ABP Portfolio[1] to find out when MOCA-Peds will be available to you. For more information on MOCA-Peds, including a look at the platform and sample questions, visit abp.org/mocapeds[2].